Knitting machine and sinker



July 18, 1944. w. A. COOPER 2,353,634

KNITTING MACHINE AND SINKER Filed Aug. 25, 1945 F/GZ.

By m. 6 Qfiv Attorney Patented July 18, 1944 KNITTING MACHINE AND SINKER William Arthur Cooper, Loughborough, England,

assignor to William Cotton Limited, Loughborough, England Application August 25, 1943, Serial No. 499,979 In Great Britain June 18, 1942 4 Claims. ((01. es -110) This invention is for improvements in and relating to Cottons patent and other straight bar knitting machines, and is concerned with the construction of the sinkers and the catch bar. It is known in Cottons patent machine to provide the sinkers with two butts which in eifect afford a recess between them into which a depending lip on the catch bar is introduced for the purpose of aligning all the sinkers and for retracting them en masse; in order to project the dividing sinkers the catch bar pushes against those butts thereof which are nearest to the sinker nobs. While this construction has certain advantages it has the disadvantage that the length of bearing provided for the sinkers in the sinker cap is necessarily restricted. In order to increase the length of bearing it is known to provide the sinkers with a single butt, and to form the catch bar with a longitudinal groove bounded front and rear by a lip whereof the rear lip is lower than the front one. The butts of the dividers are always engaged in this groove, although while the jack sinkers are being projected by the slur cock against the verge plate the catch bar is held in a raised position such that the butts of the jack sinkers can move forward beneath the front lip. In the advance of the catch her the rear lip, operating on the divider butts, pushes the dividing sinkers forward until they are aligned against the verge plate. The catch bar is then lowered so that the butts of the jack sinkers enter the groove, and it is subsequently retracted to retract all the sinkers en masse. This arrangement has the disadvantage that should the butts of certain jack sinkers be slightly misplaced, they cannot enter into the catch bar groove so that a smash inevitably results. The present invention has for an object to provide an arrangement whereby such an accident is obviated, while at the same time the sinkers are provided with an adequate length of bearing.

To this end the invention provides a Cottons patent or other straight bar knitting machine having single-butt sinkers and a grooved catch bar for manipulating them, characterised in that the sinker butts are tapered in width and the catch bar groove is correspondingl tapered in section. As a result of this construction even if a jack sinker butt is slightly misplaced when the catch bar descends to engage the jack sinker butts in the groove, the narrow end of the misplaced butt will enter the wide mouth of the groove and the butt will gradually be brought to its correct position by reason of the taper. Hence the risk of the accident above discussed is practically obviated, and because the sinkers are only provided with single butts their upper edges may have an adequate length of bearing in the sinker cap.

While it is within the scope of the invention to effect the taper at one edge of the sinker butt and at one wall of the catch bar groove, yet the best results are achieved if the taper is effected at both edges of the butt and at both Walls of the said groove.

A further feature of the invention resides in a straight bar knitting machine sinker, having a single butt and characterised in that the said butt is tapered in width.

The foregoing and other features of the invention are incorporated in the construction which will now be described in detail by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 shows the relevant parts of a Cottons paten knitting machine according to this invention; and

Figure 2 shows the catch bar and sinker butts on a larger scale.

In this construction of Cottons patent knitting machine the sinkers Illa, lflb are slidably mounted as is usual in a sinker head comprising a bottom member Ila and an upper member or cap Ilb, the said bottom member and cap being cut with tricks and being spaced one above the other. Each jack sinker Illa and each dividing sinker lob is provided with a single upstanding butt and as usual the butts l2a of the jack sinkers are reinforced (as at I3) and are somewhat less in height than the butts l2b of the dividing sinkers llb. All the butts are characterised by a taper at their front and rear edges so that they are less in width at their upper extremities than they are at their roots; a convenient value of the taper has been found to be 3 at each edge.

The catch bar l4 follows the usual construction employed for single butt sinkers in that it has a groove l5 for engaging the sinker butts,

the rear lip [5a of this groove being lower than the front lip l5b thereof, so that the butts l2b of the dividing sinkers [0b are always engaged in the groove I5, but the butts I2a of the jack sinkers Illa are only entered into the groove l5 by downward movement of the catch bar I 4. This catch bar 14 is, however, characterised in that the groove 15 is tap red in section to correspond with the taper of the sinker butts l 2a, IZb. That is to say it is wider at its mouth than at its base. As a result it will be appreciated that when the catch bar M has been moved forward, bringing the dividing sinkers lob with it, and the open mouth of the groove I5 is positioned over the butts in of the jack sinker Illa preparatory to the descent of the catch bar, the upper ends of the jack sinker butts 12a are slightly narrow than the open mouth of the groove I4 presented towards them (Fig. 2). Therefore should one of the said jack sinker butts 1211 be slightly misplaced, when the catch bar l4 descends the narrow end of the butt will unfailingly enter the.

wide mouth of the groove l5 and the butt will be gradually positioned as one of the tapered sides,

of the groove engages one of the edges of the butt.

I claim:

1. In a Cottons patent or other straight bar knitting machine, single-butt sinkers, and a grooved catch bar for manipulating them, which sinker butts are tapered in width and which catch bar groove is correspondingly tapered in section.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1, having the taper effected at both edges of the butt and at both walls of the groove.

3. In a Cottons patent or other straight bar knitting machine, single-butt jack sinkers and single-butt dividing sinkers whereof the butts of the jack sinkers are shorter than the butts of the dividing sinkers, and a catch bar for maniping a single butt that is tapered in width at both edges from its root towards its extremity.

WM. A. COOPER. 

